Taking pictures of her obsessions since 2001

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I'm Kristen and I'm living in Crawley, Sussex (hoping to return to my beloved Brighton 'n' Hove when my ME/CFS allows). I drink a lot of tea, ride a lot of buses, go in a lot of charity shops, draw, sew and knit (and attempt to crochet), take a lot of photos, spend a lot of time sleeping, read a lot of history books and follow Jesus Christ. <3
Email: busstopgirl (at) googlemail (dot) com

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There is a small group of silly souls who make sure that every Friday, they are wearing something stripey. This dates back many years, to one Friday at the company several of us used to work for, when, quite by coincedence, a whole bunch of people turned up in stripes... and the tradition of #StripeyFriday was born.

These days the stripey solidarity takes place on Twitter. Join us! Don your stripes, tweet a photo to @stripeyfriday, tagging it #stripeyfriday, and the Stripey Police will decide if they pass muster!

Yay! Another lovely collaboration between animator Charlotte Blacker and musician-for-kids Caspar Babypants (a.k.a. Chris Ballew from The Presidents of the United States of America). Caspar says:

"Charlotte Blacker (Stompy the Bear) is back and made this little dreamy world for a little girl who LOVES mud to romp around in. I love that she has red hair just like Rachel Flotard who sings with me on this song. Enjoy and stay dirty kids!"

The Heartsease project is a collaboration between R&B Handknit Designs, The UK Hand Knitting Association and the charity Kids Company (www.kidsco.org.uk). Kids Company supports 18,000 children and young people who live in exceptional poverty and have experienced chronic neglect and abuse.

Through Heartsease, knitters can extend care to children they have never met by sending them special heart-shaped bags. There are two patterns, one very simple and one slightly more advanced - you can download them from the Heartease website. You can add any trimmings you like to make them really special, and even include an encouraging note for a young person if you want to.

The bags will be used by the Kids Company team in therapy sessions with the young people they are working with. The bags will contain messages of hope and the 'pockets' can hold small keepsakes and treasures.

In Sierra Leone, the Freedom from Fistula Foundation manages The Aberdeen Women's Centre. This centre currently provides free surgeries to women injured in childbirth, runs a children's clinic, and now has a maternity clinic.

The goal of the new maternity clinic is to provide mothers in Sierra Leone with quality care during childbirth which will have the double benefit of reducing the number of childbirth injuries, as well as helping to reach the worldwide Millennium Development Goal #5 which aims to reduce maternal mortality across the developing world.

The Aberdeen Women's Centre now has the capacity to: deliver 1,500 babies each year in the maternity clinic; treat up to 500 women each year in the fistula clinic; and treat more than 6,000 children each year in the outpatient clinic.

The Freedom From Fistula Foundation has pledged to give each new baby a cardigan, jumper or blanket as a gift before they leave the hospital. They're extremely grateful for all donations in all colours* and sizes!

It turns out that my reflexologist (in her previous life as a sculptor) once made a sculpture for U2's Larry Mullen. Does that earn me more Spurious Fame Points than being in the same knitting group as Little Boots' mother-in-law?

They took quite a while - not so much the knitting as the making-up - but at last they're finished and have gone off to live in Lewes with Roxanne (6) and Isabel (8). The girls loved their lookalike dolls, and made them a palace from dining chairs, then put them to bed under the wrapping paper they came in. Roxie even sidled up to me later with a winning smile and said, "You know, you could knit me a prince!" When her sister pointed out that my knitting bag didn't contain any 'hair' coloured yarn, she added, "It's OK, he can be bald!"

The lovely folk at Cocoon Knits in George Street are asking knitters to collect sponsors and knit a minimum of three 15cm x 15cm squares. To celebrate the end of the project the bus will be driven along Brighton seafront on the 20th August with contributors and guests aboard! The minimum sponsorship amount is £25 per entry but they're aiming to raise over £40,000 for the Martlets Hospice. More details at www.cocoonknits.co.uk. After the event all blankets will be broken down and sent to Africa with the help of Knit a Square charity to help keep AIDS orphans warm.

I knitted this Jean Greenhowe 'Humpty Dumpty' for my dear friend Camel when we were 18 - in 1993! I knitted it to look like Camel, complete with Doc Marten boots and Leeds United colours. It was probably one of the first toys I ever knitted.

Humpty has lived with Camel ever since, but years of hot loving have taken their toll and recently she came back to me for a while to be given the '10 Years Younger' treatment. In this case, this meant removing all her stuffing...

...and giving her a nice hot bath in the washing machine. Then I shaved off any bobbles with a razor, restuffed her with loads and loads of new stuffing, and... put Humpty together again! Let's go to the reveal:

Via The Telegraph: When he was twelve, Andy Holden was taken to the Great Pyramid of Giza. While he was there he broke off a piece of the stone and took it back home with him. When his parents found out, they were furious.

As an adult, he was still consumed with guilt, and in 2008 he went back to the Great Pyramid and returned the stone to its original place. He then spent a year creating this 10ft high knitted replica of the stolen stone.

His show, Art Now: Andy Holden is on at Tate Britain till April 10th, and includes video footage of his him returning the stone to the Great Pyramid.

Johanna is a fashion knitwear designer from the Faroe Islands – a small group of islands in the North Atlantic Sea, famous for having twice as many sheep as people and a strong tradition for knitting. Her garments are made by women from the Faroes and the Ukraine, where knitting is also an important part of the heritage.

Just look at the unihibted use of colour and pattern - great styling on this shoot, too. It makes me want to go and raid my cupboards for an outfit full of clashing colours and textures - or maybe chop up three patterned jumpers from the charity shop to make myself a new sweater dress... mmmmmmm!!!

At last, I've stumbled across a high-quality DK yarn with comes in loads of bright colours! Normally if I want bright colours I have to use 100% acrylic yarns, which are nice and cheap - great for making toys but not nice enough to use for clothing.

Biggan yarns come in 64 (!) colours and are a machine-washable 100% merino wool which is soft enough to wear against the skin. Biggan Design was founded by Swedish designer Biggan Dups. It's based in Australia, but you can buy Biggan yarn in the UK via Woolaballoo, for about £5 per 50g. I am sooo tempted to order two dozen different colours and crochet myself a beautiful shawl!

I've finally done it. I've learnt to crochet!!! I'd tried learning from a book and ended up with a right mess, so I figured I'd be better off learning from a real person and booked up for a 2-hour 'Learn To Crochet'' workshop at Hove Museum. And here is My First Granny Square!

Our tutor was Jan Eaton, who has written loads of books about crochet. She was great, and explained the mysteries of foundation rings and turning chains, making them much less scary. I made another square when I got home, but I went wrong - didn't put enough stitches in the corners - see?

But the good thing was that using the pattern and diagrams Jan had given us, I could identify the mistake and correct it! It was so great to have learned a new skill - obviously I'm doing the crochet equivalent of playing 'Chopsticks' on the piano, but it's still exciting seeing a granny square take shape!

I'm hoping to crochet myself a granny square blanket to put over my sofa (if only if came out like Lucy at Attic 24's!). And I've got Debbie Stoller's book Stitch and Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker to move me on to (slightly) more complex projects - it's got a lovely light-hearted feel to it which helps to make learning the various stitches seem far less daunting. Look Mum, I'm a hooker!!!

Finally got round to finishing my Christmas postbox! So it will spend a few weeks on top of my wardrobe with my other Christmas decs and then reappear in December. I love postboxes, couldn't resist this pattern. If you want to make your own, it's 'Clarence the Christmas Postbox' from Jean Greenhowe's Celebration Clowns booklet, which is out of print but easy to find on eBay.

I made Victoria necklaces of pearls and crystals, and pearl earrings, and a mourning brooch with Albert's cameo on it. The crown was knitted in silver crochet thread, using Jean Greenhowe's 'picot hem' pattern, and I sewed on crystal beads. Does her face look amused?

Queen of knitted toys, Jean Greenhowe, has a new booklet out this week. Dolly Mixtures is a collection of 9 inch dolls, including a snowman, a pirate boy, a flower seller girl and a Christmas elf.

It's been ages since she's had new stuff out so I was excited to see this, but I must admit I'm a wee bit disappointed that it's another book of large dolls - they're cute but a quite similar to dolls already included in previous JG booklets. But I am a JG addict so will still be buying it!

Housing and homelessness charity Shelter is running a campaign called House of Cards, to highlight the plight of thousands of people whose homes have been repossessed, and the lack of sufficient social housing.

Shelter has run a competition to design the deck's Eight of Clubs, and this (above) is my entry. I've made the eights 'clubs' into trees, around a figure-of-eight pond, with ducks and a duck house, as a nod to the recent 'MP's expenses' furore. It's paper collage on a handknitted background. All entries are being put to a public vote online from 21 to 29 August - so if you like my design, I'd really appreciate it if you'd vote 'Love It'! :)

The Poetry Society are celebrating their centenary by creating a knitted poem! They haven't yet revealed which poem it will be, but they have over 700 people at work creating the individual letter squares which will make up the 40-foot poem. It will be displayed in October.

They're still looking for volunteers to knit or crochet the blank squares between the letters and the edging of the poem - to receive your knitting or crochet pack, email Rebecka Mustajarvi: officeassistant AT poetrysociety.org.uk

6th September - EDITED TO ADD: And here's my square - a lovely soft pink blank (Rowan Pure DK in Tea Rose). They ask you to put your name, town and favourite poem on the back. - wonder if I'll be able to spot it from the front in the finished article?

Via the Simply Knitting newsletter: A traditional wooden boat in an unusual knitted coat will be on display at The Customs House, South Shields, from 12 Jun - 21 Jul 2009. Artist Ingrid Wagner worked with Esen Kaya, visual arts development officer at the Custom House and lots of knitters to create the fabric to cover the boat.

School children, college kids and knitters of all ages and abilities have been busy working on all sorts of accessories for the boat. Over 300 knitters have been involved with the project, both locally and from around the world. The boat was built by the Northeast Maritime Trust. On 12 July it will be launched into the Tyne! More...

Sarah (here giving you her 'button eyes'), Mister Sarah and I went to an advance screening of Coraline on Saturday, and it was fab - colourful and creepy and full of amazing handmade details, including Althea Crome's unbelievably tiny knitting (see below).

We hadn't realised it was in 3D - we got given the glasses on the way in - and it made the film even more of an adventure. There's a bit in the opening sequence where a needle passes through a piece of fabric and comes straight out of the screen at you - we actually ducked! It's quite scary in parts too - a couple of smaller kids were taken out by their parents when the Other Mother started turning nasty.

This yarn-based homage to US's 44th president was a special request for my friend's sister, who is a big fan (most of us are!) and will be giving him a good home in Cardiff (ooh, maybe he'll bump into Jack Harkness!).

I pulled this little paper bag - 'FREE Daisy Maker with the compliments ofWoman's Own' - out of a basket of haberdashery stuff in the charity shop, looked inside and thought, "What the heck is this?!" I bought it and came home to get online and do some detective work.

It came as a 'flat pack' - you fold the pegs back so they stand up, then push the disc down so it fits between the outer and inner pegs. And that's a Daisy Maker!

Cathy of California's blog is packed with yarn daisy info and colourful photos, and her Etsy shop sells vintage yarn flower looms. There are other vintage looms popping up on Etsy and Ebay from time to time, or there is a loom currently available called the Knit-Wit.

I've just finished knitting my first Teddies for Tragedies bear. He'll be given to a child who needs comfort or something to love. Each bear is knitted to the same basic pattern so that no bear is 'better' than any other - as the website says:

"Don't deviate from the pattern, all teddies are different but none should be superior (no skirts or hats, stripes are OK in moderation, especially if you're using up duller colours). Think of it this way - we all want our teddy to be the best but do we want the child who doesn't get our teddy to be disappointed?"

The legs, body and head are knitted in one long piece (see below) and the arms are knitted onto this main piece. This is fairly quick to knit up - just follow the instructions carefully so the bears are well-made, safe and durable - you can send a sample bear to be checked for suitability if you're unsure. You'll also need to run up a simple drawing bag for the bear to live in - again, follow the instructions.

I hadn't heard of Neil Gaiman's children's book Coraline before, but now a movie version has been made I'm getting up to speed. I got the book out of the library and can't wait for the film's UK release (not til May!).

The story is a sort of sinister Alice In Wonderland - Coraline finds a door in her house which leads to a parallel world the same as her own, but seemingly better - she even has 'other' parents... who have buttons for eyes and may not be as friendly as they first seem...

There's a lot of buzz about the film in the crafting community, as it's a stop-motion animation with sets and characters all created by hand, including a cherry orchard made from pieces of popcorn sprayed pink!

The most gobsmacking creations are the pieces of miniature knitting by Althea Crome - see her in action here.

The longer we looked, the more details we spotted - the robin in the tree, the pop bottle knitted from clear plastic, the chicks fighting over a worm, Shaun's iPod! It was fantastic - a real labour of love by hundreds of knitters.

I can't remember the last time we had proper snow in Brighton - it must be years ago. Usually we get a dusting which is gone by midday, but today we have real proper snow! So I decided to build a snowman.

I live on the second floor, so the only place I could build was on one of my snow-covered windowsills. He's only small (7 inches high) but perfectly turned out, in a mini hat and scarf set I had made to go on an unfinished Christmas toy.

I gave him button eyes, beads for his mouth, more buttons down his front, and used some rotten bits of windowframe wood for his arms. Cute huh?

This lovely sofa, entirely covered in candy-striped knitting, belongs to craft tutor and author Nicki Trench, whose home was featured in December's Good Homes magazine. Gorgeous eh? Must have involved some seriously dedicated needle-wielding...

The Telegraph: Psychiatrist knits anatomically correct woolly brain"The two sides of the nine inch brain - one and a half times life size - are joined together by a zip with the cerebellum knitted in blue and spinal cord trailing off in white strands of wool..."

The crafting community has been knitting these boobs for a while now - they are to help teach new mothers how to breastfeed, as knitted 'breasts' are far cheaper than the synthetic models which surgeries have to buy... and less scary-looking!

Via I Knit: I can't imagine how long it must have taken to design, knit and animate the 700+ pieces of machine knitting which make up this promo video for French-Canadian band Tricot Machine (knitting machine).

The knitting was done by done by Lysanne Latulippe, a Montreal designer who has her own label, Majolie - slinky knitwear with gorgeous graphic patterns.

Let me introduce to Sergeant Bailey of the Royal Air Force - aka Dad. I knitted him for Dad's Christmas present using Jean Greenhowe's Little Gift Doll pattern as a starting point, then poring at old photos and Googling for info about RAF badges.

Dad went into the RAF as a teenager, and served for 22 years. He left when I was eight years' old, and I still remember him going off for his shift in his scratchy blue jumper with his sergeant's stripes buttoned onto the shoulders.

I've knitted him in his dress uniform, which he got married in and wore for posh 'mess' dinners. I embroidered him a set of chevrons (indicating rank) for his sleeves, and sewed on a tiny printed and laminated cap badge, and another showing his 'trade' badge for Signals, a fist grasping bolts of lightning.

Dad loved it. He was speechless at first - usually a good sign! Then he took his Mini-Me off to church for the show-and-tell at the Christmas service!

I made this little fella for The Blonde's Christmas present. As I have noted before, she's a little penguin crazy. She's also into Hello Kitty, and had spotted that HK sequin in a mixed bag I bought from CrinolineStash on Etsy. She'd been trying to get me to give to her ever since!

(S)he's another take on Jean Greenhowe's Christmas Penguin, with earmuffs knitted from the snowman in Little Gift Dolls. I could do with earmuffs meself, it's been perishing in this flat for days now. Have taken to wearing a beret indoors. If only I could wear my electric blanket all day...

"Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation are attempting to set a world record for the biggest ever hand knitted Tea Cosy and we need your help.

We are asking you to knit a 6” width strip, as long as you like of any colour or pattern you like and send to our friends at 'I knit London' who will make your knitted strip part of the world’s biggest tea cosy. The wool can be any colour you like and you make your strip as long as you can manage, all we ask is that it is 6” in width (approx 28 stitches), double knit yarn, and 4mm needles."

I'll be off to watch The Tudors in a mo', but thought it fitting to warmly applaud the work of caffaknitted (aka Katie Park), who has made a fab Anne Boleyn doll complete (or incomplete?!) with a detachable head.

FTC need colourful jumpers for babies and children, jumpers in 'uniform' colours for school kids (free pattern here), and blankets of various sizes for babies and children. Find out more, and download the latest Knitting Knews, on the Feed The Children website.

Oxfam are calling on knitters everywhere to turn their knitting needles into poverty fighting needles by creating a 9-inch square for their giant baby blanket - a 'visual petition' they're handing in to world leaders in September 2008, demanding that they honour their promises to make sure mums in poor countries get the maternal health care they need. They're aiming for 250,000 patches - one for every mum who should have survived pregnancy in the last six months.

"For every mum, the day her child is born should be the happiest of her life. Yet, in the world's poorest countries, many mums don't survive to look after their babies. In the next minute, lack of access to health care will claim the life of another mum. In a year, half a million mums die because of poorly equipped hospitals, or because they can't afford to pay health care fees. World leaders have promised to end this travesty by providing enough aid to deliver the medical services needed, but as things stand they're falling well short."

Enter your details on Oxfam's website, and they'll email you a copy of their foolproof knitting guide, which you can download to find out how to take part. After the giant blanket has been presented, it will be dismantled into smaller blankets and sold in Oxfam shops and at festivals. All money raised will go towards Oxfam's work to fight poverty, such as urgently needed midwife training in Yemen.

Get your squares to Oxfam's Leeds office by 31 August 2008. Check out the squares they've received so far on Flickr.

Save The Children are asking knitters to knit a hat for a newborn baby, and attach a message for Gordon Brown, telling him why he must act now to save newborn lives around the world. Details of the campaign, including a free baby hat pattern and a card for your message to the Prime Minister, are available on the Save The Children website.

Save The Children will ensure the card reaches Mr Brown, and the hat will go directly on to the head of a newborn baby; a baby in places that suffer high numbers of newborn deaths, like Kenya, Sierra Leone or Tibet:

"Parents do everything they can to protect their babies from cold. But the most important thing, putting a hat on the baby's head, is neglected – that’s like leaving a thermos bottle filled with hot water but without a lid."Tashi Tsering, Save the Children’s Health Project Manager in Tibet

I ran out of time to knit a bandana, waistcoat and sash, so they're made of remnants from my fabric stash. His hair was done by French knitting (on a Clover Wonder Knitter), and then beads were sewn in. Yarrrr!!!!!!!